The mysterious Mindflow are newcomers to the prog-metal scene – JUST THE TWO OF US… is their debut. Aside from the fact that they are from Brazil, I’m afraid I can’t shed too much light on this quintet – hence the mysterious (their website is heinously low on information). What I can tell you though is that these five Brazilians are anything but slack-jawed, starry-eyed kids just happy to have a recording contract. No, they are far too insanely talented for that.

JUST THE TWO OF US…is, from what I can tell, some sort of concept album, though I have no clue as to what the story may be. That’s unimportant however – better to focus on the music with these kinds of bands. Luckily, the music more than speaks for itself, as this is some of the most complex and winding prog-metal to come out this side of Dream Theater. In fact, the mighty DT is the easiest and most accurate comparison of Mindflow’s music, as this album could have logically been written somewhere between SCENES OF A MEMORY and SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE. In fact, I’d bet that Mindflow can play 2001-era Dream Theater better than they could at this point. I mean, just listen to opener “Meeting Her Eyes” and tell me that couldn’t have come from Portnoy and co.

While the Dream Theater influence is overpowering at times, snippets of other bands can be heard throughout the disc – Yes and Rush also make sonic appearances. Despite the fact that JUST THE TWO OF US... has an hour-long run time (plenty of time for the band to flex their wankery muscles), the band writes enough catchy material that it passes relatively quickly. Songs like “Meeting Her Eyes”, “Deadly Event”, and “Honesty” are both supremely catchy, and yet complex enough that even the most hardened prog fan will find much to enjoy.

If you can get past the rampant Dream Theater fanboyism, and hang on through the slightly dreary back end, this album is an easy recommendation for prog-metal fans. Mindflow is a very talented band that I’m sure will be talked about for many years to come.